Systems and methods for visualizing playback plans of hypermeetings

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented method for visualizing a playback plan of a hypervideo, the hypervideo comprising a plurality of video segments from a plurality of videos linked together using a plurality of links, the method being performed in connection with a computerized system comprising a central processing unit, a display device and a memory, the computer-implemented method involving: generating the playback plan for an automated playback of the hypervideo, the automated playback comprising automatically following the plurality of links linking the plurality of video segments such that at least some of the plurality of video segments are played in a predetermined sequence, wherein the plurality of links are followed based on the playback plan; and generating a graphical user interface portion on the display device for visualizing the playback plan.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This U.S. patent application replies upon, claims the benefit ofpriority from and is a continuation-in-part of a co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/692,731, filed on Apr. 21, 2015, which claimsthe benefit of priority from and is a continuation-in-part of aco-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/574,386, filed on Dec.17, 2014, both of which are incorporated by reference herein in theirentirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The disclosed embodiments relate in general to techniques for automatinghypervideo playback and, more specifically, to systems and methods forvisualizing playback plans of hypermeetings.

2. Description of the Related Art

Meetings are an important part of collaborative activities but aredifficult to schedule, particularly when a set of collaborators isspread across multiple locations and time zones. Additionally, meetingsoften overlap in terms of content. This can cause difficulties asmeetings that build on what was discussed in prior meetings result inbarriers for those not at prior meetings and meetings that re-discusstopics are often viewed as unproductive by the participants that were atprior meetings.

Meetings with asynchronous participation are desired but currently notwell supported. Systems either treat the original meeting as a series ofindependent discussions, losing their interconnections, or they recordeverything putting the onus of locating and responding to discussion onparticipants. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/574,386 describes asolution for recording multiple asynchronous meetings by representing aseries of meetings in a form of navigable video recordings called ahypervideo. The hypervideo consists of several video segments that arelinked together using links.

As would be appreciated by persons of ordinary skill in the art, suchhypervideos may be displayed in many different ways. While manual linkfollowing is possible, automatic link following and other assistednavigation to support the viewer in seeing relevant parts of thehypervideo in the appropriate order during hypervideo playback would bedesirable. Additionally desirable would be a system that would providevisualizations of playback sequences of video segments in hypervideo.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments described herein are directed to methods and systemsthat substantially obviate one or more of the above and other problemsassociated with conventional technology for video playback.

In accordance with one aspect of the inventive concepts describedherein, there is provided a computer-implemented method for visualizinga playback plan of a hypervideo, the hypervideo comprising a pluralityof video segments from a plurality of videos linked together using aplurality of links, the method being performed in connection with acomputerized system comprising a central processing unit, a displaydevice and a memory, the computer-implemented method involving:generating the playback plan for an automated playback of thehypervideo, the automated playback comprising automatically followingthe plurality of links linking the plurality of video segments such thatat least some of the plurality of video segments are played in apredetermined sequence, wherein the plurality of links are followedbased on the playback plan; and generating a graphical user interfaceportion on the display device for visualizing the playback plan.

In one or more embodiments, the graphical user interface portioncomprises a timeline for one of the plurality of videos.

In one or more embodiments, the graphical user interface portioncomprises a video selection portion for selecting one of the pluralityof videos.

In one or more embodiments, upon selection of the one of the pluralityof videos, the graphical user interface portion displays a timeline forthe selected one of the plurality of videos.

In one or more embodiments, each of the plurality of videos in the videoselection portion is color-coded.

In one or more embodiments, the graphical user interface portioncomprises a merged timeline for at least two of the plurality of videos.

In one or more embodiments, the merged timeline comprises a plurality ofcolor-coded timeline portions corresponding to each of the least two ofthe plurality of videos.

In one or more embodiments, the graphical user interface portioncomprises a merge timeline widget and wherein upon activation of themerge timeline widget by a user, the graphical user interface portiondisplays the merged timeline for at least two of the plurality ofvideos.

In one or more embodiments, the graphical user interface portioncomprises a playback control portion comprising a play button.

In one or more embodiments, the graphical user interface portioncomprises timelines for each of the plurality of videos.

In one or more embodiments, each of the timelines is color-coded.

In one or more embodiments, each of the plurality of video segmentsincluded in the playback plan is marked on the timeline for thecorresponding one of the plurality of videos.

In one or more embodiments, each of the plurality of video segmentsincluded in the playback plan is marked on the timeline for thecorresponding one of the plurality of videos with a different color or adifferent shade.

In one or more embodiments, the graphical user interface portioncomprises a playback control portion and wherein the playback controlportion indicates an active timeline corresponding to a video from theplurality of videos being currently played.

In one or more embodiments, the graphical user interface portioncomprises a playback indicator for visualizing a traversal of one of theplurality of links included in the playback plan.

In one or more embodiments, the playback indicator is animated and movesbetween two timelines corresponding to the videos linked by the one ofthe plurality of links.

In one or more embodiments, the graphical user interface portioncomprises a back widget and wherein upon activation of the back widgetby a user, the graphical user interface portion reverts to a previousplayback state.

In one or more embodiments, the graphical user interface portioncomprises a tooltip portion comprising information on the previousplayback state.

In one or more embodiments, the information on the previous playbackstate comprises date, time and topic of a corresponding meeting.

In one or more embodiments, the method further comprises maintaining ahistory of hypervideo navigation states.

In accordance with another aspect of the inventive concepts describedherein, there is provided a computerized system for visualizing aplayback plan of a hypervideo, the hypervideo comprising a plurality ofvideo segments from a plurality of videos linked together using aplurality of links, the computerized system comprising a centralprocessing unit, a display device and a memory storing a set ofcomputer-executable instructions for: generating the playback plan foran automated playback of the hypervideo, the automated playbackcomprising automatically following the plurality of links linking theplurality of video segments such that at least some of the plurality ofvideo segments are played in a predetermined sequence, wherein theplurality of links are followed based on the playback plan; andgenerating a graphical user interface portion on the display device forvisualizing the playback plan.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the inventive conceptsdescribed herein, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readablemedium embodying a set of computer-executable instructions, which, whenexecuted in a computerized system comprising a central processing unit,a display device and a memory, cause the computerized system to performa method for visualizing a playback plan of a hypervideo, the hypervideocomprising a plurality of video segments from a plurality of videoslinked together using a plurality of links, the method comprising:generating the playback plan for an automated playback of thehypervideo, the automated playback comprising automatically followingthe plurality of links linking the plurality of video segments such thatat least some of the plurality of video segments are played in apredetermined sequence, wherein the plurality of links are followedbased on the playback plan; and generating a graphical user interfaceportion on the display device for visualizing the playback plan.

Additional aspects related to the invention will be set forth in part inthe description which follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Aspects ofthe invention may be realized and attained by means of the elements andcombinations of various elements and aspects particularly pointed out inthe following detailed description and the appended claims.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing and the followingdescriptions are exemplary and explanatory only and are not intended tolimit the claimed invention or application thereof in any mannerwhatsoever.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification exemplify the embodiments of the presentinvention and, together with the description, serve to explain andillustrate principles of the inventive concepts. Specifically:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a meeting structure being addressed byone or more embodiments described herein.

FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) illustrates exemplary embodiments of data structuresand tables for representing hypermeetings.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an operating sequence of aprocess for recording, indexing, and linking of content associated witha meeting.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an operating sequence of aprocess for playback of recorded meetings, which involves thesynchronized playback of prior recorded content.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a graphical user interfaceof the described system for automatic playback of hypervideo.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of a graphical user interface forrecording and playback of a meeting in an exemplary situation involvingthree subsequent meeting parts.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of timelines for a chain ofthree meetings.

FIG. 8 shows exemplary playback plans for playing both halves of a link,and then stopping, as would happen if a user clicked on the link withoutautomatic link-following enabled, or automatically following a secondlink.

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a user interfaceimplementing a playback plan visualization technique.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a user interfaceimplementing a playback plan visualization technique using mergedtimeline.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a user interfaceimplementing a playback plan visualization technique involvingdisplaying timelines for all meetings.

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a user interfaceimplementing a playback plan visualization technique involvingdisplaying timelines for all meetings and animation of playbackindicator.

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a user interfaceimplementing a playback plan visualization technique involvingdisplaying timelines for all meetings and back button showing time,speaker, and topic.

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a navigation historystack.

FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a computerized system forautomatic playback of hypervideo and visualizing playback plans.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, reference will be made to theaccompanying drawing(s), in which identical functional elements aredesignated with like numerals. The aforementioned accompanying drawingsshow by way of illustration, and not by way of limitation, specificembodiments and implementations consistent with principles of thepresent invention. These implementations are described in sufficientdetail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention andit is to be understood that other implementations may be utilized andthat structural changes and/or substitutions of various elements may bemade without departing from the scope and spirit of present invention.The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be construed ina limited sense. Additionally, the various embodiments of the inventionas described may be implemented in the form of a software running on ageneral purpose computer, in the form of a specialized hardware, orcombination of software and hardware.

The aforementioned co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/692,731 describes an approach to automatic playback of hypervideousing playback plans. In accordance with the approach presented therein,playback plans describe different paths through a hypervideo that areautomatically followed during playback. One source of hypervideo arehypermeetings, which support asynchronous meetings by creating navigablevideo recordings of them.

In accordance with one aspect of the embodiments described herein, thereare provided techniques for improving, or making more practical, the useof the aforesaid playback plans. The described embodiments includevisualizations techniques for playback plans. These techniques are ofimportance because they are helpful for users to develop expectationsfor what they will see and to understand the relationships between thevarious video segments that make up a phypervideo layback plan.

In accordance with another aspect of the embodiments described herein,there are provided systems and methods for implementing transitionsbetween views of playback plans. As would be appreciated by persons ofordinary skill in the art, no one visualization is likely to beappropriate for all contexts. In particular, some visualizations hidecontent not part of the plan while others show that content and enablenavigation not possible in other views. Additionally, certain useractions (e.g. navigation out of a playback plan) imply a need to changethe visualization.

Finally, in accordance with yet another aspect of the embodimentsdescribed herein, there are provided systems and methods for storing andusing the history of playback plans. These systems and methods enableusers to have the equivalent to a Web browser's “back” and “forward”buttons to navigate to prior states of the system.

Hypermeetings

With reference to an example 100 shown in FIG. 1, consider the casewhere periodic project meetings 101 occur for a project involving adistributed team, Andreas 106 and Lynn 107 in Palo Alto and Frank 108 inCollege Station. As such, remote meeting software is required but as themembers of the team have other projects/responsibilities as well theyare not always available for every scheduled meeting. Additional teammembers at both sites are involved in the meetings periodically andsometimes in-person meetings about the project occur at one site withoutcoordinating with the other site.

As shown in FIG. 1, a kickoff meeting (Meeting 1, designated by numeral102 in FIG. 1) occurs with Andreas 106, Lynn 107, and Frank 108 eachrecorded in their own video (although Lynn and Andreas could have anin-person meeting). The next week, Lynn 107 is not available at thenormal meeting time but Andreas 106 and Frank 108 meet to discussprogress and look back at the recordings from the prior week's meetingsto make sure they remember Lynn's perspective on some of the designissues (Meeting 2 a, 103 in FIG. 1). As meetings participants replay andcomment on the prior recordings, links are automatically generatedbetween the original and later meeting and, sometimes, Andreas and Frankattach labels to the links to indicate what was the topic of thediscussion. Later, Lynn meets with JD 109 to further discuss the project(Meeting 2 b, 104 in FIG. 1). Their meeting is initially a set ofreactions/responses to Meeting 2 a in which they use the links generatedduring meeting 2 a while also generating new hyperlinks, but move on toother topics as well. In week 3, the regularly scheduled distributedmeeting (Meeting 3, 105 in FIG. 1) takes place using the recordings andlinks from Meetings 1, 2 a, and 2 b as questions arise and generatingmore links that enable tracing the discussion of topics across meetingsin future project meetings.

As it is clear from this example, an important aspect of supporting bothmeeting participants and those who miss meetings is to denote relationsamong meetings as new meeting content is recorded. To this end, one ormore embodiments described herein represent recorded content andmetadata describing this content in a number of data structures andtables as shown, for example, in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b)(note this is notthe data structure for the meeting described in FIG. 1). Specifically,FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) illustrate exemplary embodiments of data structuresand tables for representing hypermeetings. In various embodiments, theexemplary data structures shown in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) may be stored ina database, such as a relational database well known to persons ofordinary skill in the art, or in any other suitable form, such as in anyother data structure, on a computer-readable medium. It should be alsonoted that the concepts described herein are not limited to any specificdata structure used for storing meeting information. Therefore, examplesof such structures given herein should not be construed in a limitedsense.

With reference to FIG. 2(a), the Meeting Series 201 represents arecurring meeting or a series of interrelated meetings. Each Meeting 202and 203 in the Meeting Series 201 is itself composed of one or moreMeeting Parts 204, 205, 206 and 207, which are the synchronousactivities that make up a logical meeting. Each meeting part 204-207 isfurther composed of one or more respective synchronized video streams208, 209, 210, 211, 212 and 213 (video takes) and associated additionaldata. In various embodiments, a meeting part 204-207 may be composed ofa single video stream—as would be the case when an individual isrecording reactions and/or responses to a previously recorded meetingpart that they could not attend.

In various embodiments, metadata associated with elements of the meetingseries may include the list of participants who participate in eachmeeting part 204, 205, 206 and 207, the topics assigned to segments ofthe corresponding meeting parts, and the links within and betweendifferent meeting parts. In various embodiments, meeting parts may besegmented based on the identity of the speaker and/or the topics beingdiscussed. Techniques for such segmentation are well known to persons ofordinary skill in the art. In various embodiments, this segmentation ofthe meeting parts based on the identity of the speaker and the topicsbeing discussed is used to provide finer access into the meetingrecordings. In various embodiments, automatic, semi-automatic, andmanual techniques for segmentation, indexing, and linking may be used inconnection with the aforesaid meeting parts.

With reference to FIG. 2(b), an embodiment of the described system mayuse a participant table 220, which stores information on theparticipants of each meeting. This information may be used, for example,for speaker segmentation as described in detail below. In addition,topic table 221 may be provided. This table may include a list oftopics, which may be used to index contents of the meetings. Finally, invarious embodiments, a link table 222 may be provided, which contains alist of links between contents of the meetings. In various embodiments,each link record contains information on link anchors (start and endtime) as well as a link label. The tables 220-222 may be stored in adatabase, such as a relational database well known to persons ofordinary skill in the art.

Exemplary Meeting Recording Process

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an operating sequence 300of a process for recording, indexing, and linking of content associatedwith a meeting. First, at step 301, a meeting is recorded that consistsof one or more synchronized audiovisual streams. In various embodiments,the meeting may be recorded by capturing audio and video using camerasand microphones in a meeting room or by capturing audio and video usingcameras and microphones on user's personal devices, such as tables orsmartphones. This recorded content is then analyzed using known methodsfor performing speaker segmentation, see step 302. Thereafter, at step303, the content may be indexed based on the identified speakers.Specifically, index of start and end times may be created to eachspeaker at the meeting.

Once the synchronized video content has been segmented based on speaker(and optionally indexed), any assigned topics are attached to segmentsindicated as overlapping, see step 304. Additionally, indexing of thecontent based on the assigned topics may be performed in step 305. Theresulting segmented video streams and attached metadata (e.g. topicsattached to segments) are then used during playback (illustrated in FIG.4), which results in the creation of follow-on content linked to thepreviously recorded content, see step 306.

Exemplary Meeting Playback Process

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an operating sequence 400of a process for playback of recorded meetings, which involves thesynchronized playback of prior recorded content (using the resultsgenerated by the process illustrated in FIG. 3). Because the multipleviewers of the recorded content are distributed geographically yet needto be viewing the same content at the same time (the playback issynchronized), an embodiment of the described system captures andbroadcasts any events that alter playback among those watching therecordings. As shown in FIG. 4, during the synchronized playback 401, anembodiment of the described system captures the events 402-405, whichinclude events 402 altering the playback speed (slowing down or speedingup), events 403 selecting a link, events 404 selecting a topic, as wellas events 405 selecting a position in the timeline causing the playbackfor all viewers to synchronously switch to a new position in the same ordifferent set of video recordings. In addition, during the synchronizedplayback 401, one of the viewers may initiate an action 406 that beginsthe recording of activity/discussions among the current participants viathe process 300 illustrated in FIG. 3, see step 407 in FIG. 4.

In one or more embodiments, the described system performs automaticgeneration and presentation of persistent links between segments ofinterrelated meeting recordings based on normal meeting viewing andrecording behavior of the users. These generated persistent links arestored for subsequent use. First, an exemplary user interface will bedescribed and, subsequently, particular capabilities of the environmentwill be addressed.

Exemplary User Interface for Meeting Recording and Playback

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a graphical user interface500 of the described system for automatic playback of hypervideo.Specifically, the graphical user interface 500 shown in FIG. 5 is themain meeting capture and review interface. The top right portion 501 ofthe interface 500 enables the users to watch and navigate within thevideo streams associated with the playback of a recorded meeting, whichtook place sometime in the past. The video streams of the currentmeeting are displayed in the bottom right portion 502, below those ofthe recorded past meetings. Video playback of the past meeting(s) is acollaborative activity such that any meeting participant can pause orskip the recorded video streams for all participants. The left portion503 of the graphical user interface 500 displays the list of topics 504associated with the captured meeting.

In one or more embodiments, the timeline 505 shows the speakertransitions, for example, by means of color-coding 508. In one ore moreembodiments, topic tags 506 may be presented below the timeline 505. Inone or more embodiments, alternative visualizations in the timeline 505are used, including, for example, color coding 508 for topics and imageindicators for speaker transitions. User can control playback of themeeting streams using playback control 507.

In one or more embodiments, topics are assigned during the initialrecording by meeting participants. In the same or different embodiments,the topics may be also assigned by those watching the videos at a latertime. Additionally or alternatively, the topics may be assigned throughautomated mechanisms that match the elements of predefined agendas basedon content processing. Initially, a meeting series may have anextensible set of topics, wherein the graphical user interface provideseasy access to those recently defined and used. In addition, meetingparticipants are enabled by the graphical user interface to add to theinitial set of topics, which are stored in data structure(s) associatedwith the corresponding meeting, such as the topic table 221 shown inFIG. 2(b).

One exemplary setting illustrating an embodiment of the describedtechniques, involves a later meeting part, with different participantsat a different time, watching the previously recorded meeting part. Asthe participants watch the prior meeting, they pause the prior meetingvideo stream and begin discussing the same and related topics. In one ormore embodiments, upon receipt of the aforesaid pause command, anembodiment of the system automatically generates one or more linksbetween the paused video and the new discussion that is being recorded.In one or more embodiments, the aforesaid generated link is shown as astart in the timeline.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of a graphical user interface 600 forrecording and playback of a meeting in an exemplary situation involvingthree subsequent meeting parts. The latest meeting part shown in thebottom portion 601 of the user interface 600 represents a soleparticipant reviewing previous two meeting parts shown in the upper andmiddle portions 602 and 603, respectively. In the shown embodiment, thelink 11 (element 604 in FIG. 6) was recently generated in the third part601 of a meeting. The older links numbered 1 through 10 (elements 605)point from the first to the second part of the meeting. In one or moreembodiments, the system also enables the user to create links for olderparts of the meeting to the current part. The vertical position of thecircle representing a link (see elements 604 and 605 in FIG. 6)indicates whether it points down to a more recent meeting part or up toan older part. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, links 1-10 on thetimeline 505 as well as link 11 on the timeline 608 point down to a morerecent meeting part, while links 1-10 on the timeline 608 as well aslink 11 on the timeline 609 point up to an older meeting part.

Exemplary Link Following within Meeting

In various embodiments, the aforesaid links can be followed in bothdirections by clicking on the numbered circle identifying a link (forexample, elements 604 and 605 in FIG. 6). When following a link, firstthe link anchor in the older meeting is played to provide context andthen the link anchor in the newer meeting is played. For example, inFIG. 8, after clicking the “1” (element 701), first the source linkanchor 800 around the circle 701 would be played, followed by thedestination link anchor 804 around the “1” (802), as indicated by thesolid line 803. The playback would stop at the end of the destinationlink anchor 804. Clicking on the “1” 802 would cause the same playbacksequence starting at the source link anchor 800. A second click on alink circle advances the playback to the destination link anchor.

Automatic Link Following

Viewing a hypermeeting can be a purely manual interaction where the userselects which hyperlinks should be followed and which parts of the videoshould be skipped. However, it is advantageous to automate thisnavigation through video based on the systems knowledge of the viewingusers' participation and interests.

In addition to user-initiated link traversal, links may also beautomatically traversed as they are encountered. Continuous playback ofthe multipart meeting can move back and forth between the original andadditional video content as links are encountered. For example, as linksto newer meetings are encountered, the playback automatically followsthat link and returns to the original position after playing thedestination link anchor.

If the linked video contains a link to a more recent meeting, that linkis followed in the same fashion. The dashed line 801 in FIG. 8 providesan example of this behavior. While the user played the content of link“1”, link “8” was encountered and automatically followed. Because theends of the link anchors of links “1” and “8” line up, playback wouldstop at the end of the segment 805 surrounding “8”.

Exemplary Timelines Showing Topics, Participants, Links, and Link Labels

In one or more embodiments, the timeline 505 is designed to provide avariety of visualizations to the participants based on the topic andspeaker as well as navigational links between or within recordings thathave been authored or automatically generated are shown as icons (forexample, numbered circles 605 in FIG. 6). For example, discussed topics606 may be shown below the timeline 505, in the manner illustrated inFIG. 6. In addition, the speakers may be indicated using color-coding607 over the timeline 505, see FIG. 6.

Finally, links are indicated by numbered circles 605 on the timeline505. The numbers provide users with information about the destination ofthe links. As shown in FIG. 6, links shown with numbered circles 605 inthe timeline 505 correspond to similarly numbered links in the timeline608. In one or more embodiments, additional information regarding thelinks may appear when the mouse cursor lingers over the correspondingicon.

Hypervideo Playback Plans

In one or more embodiments, depending on the information need of theuser, there are many different ways links could be followedautomatically. In accordance with one embodiment, there is provided theabstraction of playback plans to describe such automatic behavior. Theresult of a specific playback plan applied to a specific hypermeeting issimilar to an edit decision list for video editing. It consists of asequence of video segments from multiple videos that are played inorder. Unlike edit decision lists, playback plans are computedautomatically based on available links, filter conditions, and previousbehavior of the user. In one or more embodiments, the playback plansthemselves encode logic for deciding when to follow links and when tonot.

Some exemplary playback plans are a generalization of hypervideo linkbehaviors—that is they determine what happens when the beginning orending of a source or destination link anchor is encountered duringplayback. Alternative playback plans may represent filters that skipover undesired portions of a video such as silence. More complex planscan be combinations of such behaviors. Playback plans may also alter theplayback speed.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of timelines for a chain ofthree meetings. The circles 701 indicate hyperlinks with the numbersmatching the two halves of a link. The colored areas 702 surrounding thecircles are the link anchors. Superimposed as a gradient line 703 toindicate playback progress is a plan for playing the oldest meeting inthe chain while automatically following all links to newer meetings.Note that link “12” to the newest meeting at 16:52 causes out-of-orderplayback. After returning from link “9”, link “12” is followed next,then links “3”, “10”, “4”, and “11”.

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary playback plan for playing both halves of link“1”, see element 701 in FIG. 7, and then stopping, as would happen if auser clicked on the link without automatic link-following enabled. Ifautomatic link-following were enabled, link “8” would be played, too, asindicated by the dashed line 801.

In one or more embodiments, all playback plans may include filtercriteria. One exemplary filter may be configured to skip silence in thevideo. Such a filter is useful in situations where meeting attendees arelistening to an older meeting without speaking at the same time.Attendees of a future meeting would want to skip that period of silence.Other exemplary filters could focus on particular topics or speakers.

In one or more embodiments, plans may also be personalized based on whois speaking in each segment. Thus, an exemplary plan could play anyresponses to segments in which the current user was a speaker, firstplaying the original segment followed by the responses. Similarly,exemplary topic-oriented plans may play through segments tagged withparticular topics and any content attached to those segments.

Navigation within Playback Plans

In one or more embodiments, manual navigation within a playback plan,i.e., skipping to a part of the video that is covered by the plan, justcontinues the plan from that position in the video. Other userinteraction could include clicking on a link label while playing thesource of that link. Such an interaction skips the playback to thedestination of that link and continues the plan from there. Navigationto a part of the video not covered by the current playback plan leads tothe computation of a new playback plan including that part of the video,by default a plan that plays the video of the current meeting and followlinks to all later meetings.

Types of Playback Plans

In one or more embodiments, playback plans are computed when a userclicks on a link, navigates to a different meeting in the chain, ornavigates outside the current plan. In one or more embodiments, playbackplans can be used to filter recorded content and are interactive (i.e.,users can navigate within a playback plan). We identified playback plansthat are appropriate to particular use scenarios.

TABLE 1 Likely Viewing Context of Use Behavior Plan Behavior Reviewing aLook for Play segments on a meeting that one specific topic participatedin segments based on topic Reviewing Look for related Play segments on amultiple meetings segments across topic with embedded that one meetingsbased links to additional participated in or on topic relateddiscussions has viewed Viewing a View the whole Play the meeting meetingwhere meeting one was absent Viewing a View the whole Play the meetingwith meeting where meeting in the contextual segments one was absentcontext of prior from prior meetings but at prior meetings meetingsViewing multiple View all the Play the oldest related meetings meetingswith meeting in its entirety where one was an understanding along withlinks to absent of relations related content in between meetings newermeetings, then play additional content in newer meetings Viewingmultiple View all the Play the absent related meetings unseen meeting inits entirety where one was meetings with along with links to absent butat an understanding related content in some prior of relations newermeetings, then meeting between these play additional meetings andcontent in newer their relations meetings together to prior meetingswith contextual segments from prior meetings

Table 1 details six exemplary contexts of use for playback plans, theinformation goals of the user in these contexts, and the playback planbehavior. It should be noted that the exemplary contexts shown in Table1 are exemplary only and should not be considered in the limiting sense.In one embodiment, the described system implements playback plans forthe more common scenarios that include automatically following links tonewer meetings, either for a whole meeting or a single link, incombination with a filter for silence.

In one or more embodiments, selecting a playback plan can take intoaccount characteristics of users, such as their participation inmeetings. In the case of a user who has not participated in the meetingchain, it would make sense to play the video of the meeting that startedthe chain and to automatically follow all links to subsequent meetingssuch that those comments can be viewed in context. Such a traversalthrough the hypervideo would skip the parts of the subsequent meetingsthat are not linked, presumably because the content in these portions isnot related to the older meetings. This is the behavior illustrated inFIG. 7.

Another exemplary default plan would be for a person who participated ina series of meetings and wished to review comments linked to meeting heattended. In this case the source anchors in the meeting he attendedwould be played before playing the linked comment, but any links toprevious meetings encountered while playing the source anchors would beignored.

Visualization of Playback Plans Via Timeline

Turning now to the visualization of hypervideo playback plans, threealternative exemplary embodiments of methods for visualization ofplayback plans via timelines will be discussed in detail below. Thefirst such exemplary visualization method involves the creation of auser interface showing the standard view of the video timeline, see FIG.9. Specifically, FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a userinterface 900 implementing such visualization method. In the shown view,the hypervideo structure, which is comprised of a set of recordedsynchronous meetings and a set of links between segments of theserecordings, is presented to the user with one recorded meeting beingvisualized at a time. In this view, the whole middle part of thetimeline 901 is colored (for example dark gray) indicating that wholemeeting is included in the playback plan. After navigating to anothermeeting, the timeline for only that meeting is shown. For example, whenplayback switches to the green meeting, the timeline would look like thetimeline 1102 shown in FIG. 11 (with dark gray areas indicating theplayback plan), with the exception that it would use the whole width ofthe timeline. In the aforesaid FIG. 9, the timeline 901 for only theoldest meeting 902 is shown. The meetings 902, 903, 904 and 905, whichform the hypermeeting are shown in the left part 906 of the userinterface 900 and selectable by the user. Upon the user selection of thespecific meeting, the timeline for the corresponding meeting (902, 903,904 or 905) is displayed in the right part 907 of the user interface900.

However, the study of the user experience in connection with the use ofthe first visualization technique illustrated in FIG. 9 demonstratedthat using this type of visualization, users do not develop an accuratemental model of the video segment payback sequence. Therefore, toimprove user's expectations of what they are about to see during theplayback of the hypervideo, a method for visualizing a playback planusing a merged timeline is provided. In one or more embodiments, themerged timeline concatenates the portions of the recorded meetings thatwill be shown to the user in accordance with the current playback plan.An exemplary embodiment of a portion of a user interface 1000 employingsuch a merged timeline 1001 is illustrated in FIG. 10. The mergedtimeline 1001 covers the oldest meeting and all meetings linked from itusing the hypervideo links described in detail above. In one or moreembodiments, bottom portions 1002, 1003, 1004 and 1005 of the mergedtimeline 1001 corresponding to specific meetings may be color-codedbased on the color code of the respective meetings.

In the graphical user interface embodiment 1000 shown in FIG. 10, thelinks between video segments in the hypervideo are not themselvesvisualized because the automatic link traversal is implied pursuant tothe playback plan and the links are represented in the timeline by colorchanges between the colored portions 1002, 1003, 1004 and 1005 at thebottom of the timeline 1001. In one or more embodiments, links outsidethe playback plan cannot be selected in this view. In this visualizationshown in FIG. 10, colors of the bottom portions 1002, 1003, 1004 and1005 of the merged timeline 1001 are used to indicate which meeting willbe shown at which specific time. Additionally, in one or moreembodiments, this view merges and standardizes the colors assigned tothe meeting participants so the same person has the same color acrossmeetings in order to present speaker segmentation information along withthe merged timeline.

As would be appreciated by persons of ordinary skill in the art, apossible weakness of the merged timeline 1001 shown in FIG. 10 is thatit does not provide information about the material not included in thecurrent playback plan so users do not know how much content they aregoing to see relative to the amount available and the relative positionsof the segments in the meetings. Therefore, a third exemplary embodimentof a playback plan visualization shown in FIG. 11 has been designed thatincludes this omitted from the playback plan content but at the cost ofproviding multiple timelines simultaneously rather than users having asingle timeline as in the above visualizations. FIG. 11 illustrates anexemplary embodiment of a user interface 1100, which includes timelines1101, 1102, 1103 and 1104 of all meetings of a hypermeeting. Thevertically middle portions of the timelines 1101, 1102, 1103 and 1104actually included in the current playback plan are coded with adifferent color or shade, such as dark gray.

As can be seen from FIG. 11, the stack of timelines 1101, 1102, 1103 and1104 show the hypervideo structure (as in the first visualization) butalso show the segments of all meetings 1105 (color-coded with differentcolor or shade) that are part of the current playback plan, as in thesecond visualization shown in FIG. 10. The coverage of the currentplayback plan is indicated by a darker shade in the middle of thetimeline bar, see the timeline portions 1105.

In one or more embodiments, in the stack of timelines 1101, 1102, 1103and 1104 shown in FIG. 11, the playback control 1106 moves to thetimeline of the meeting currently being played. In the embodiment shownin FIG. 12, while following a link, the playback indicator 1201 isanimated in its path from one meeting to the other. Specifically, in theshown embodiment, the playback indicator 1201 moves along a dashed line1202 during link traversal to provide the user with the visual cue ofthe link following pursuant to the playback plan.

Transition Between Views of Playback Plans

As would be appreciated by persons of ordinary skill in the art, nosingle visualization is likely to be best in all use contexts. Thus,there a need for user selectable and automatic ways of transitioningbetween the views of the playback plan. Therefore, in one or moreembodiments, the graphical user interface for visualizing a playbackplan may include a toggle or other graphical user interface widget forusers to switch between different playback plan views. An exemplaryembodiment of such a widget is a checkbox “merge timeline” 1006 at theright of FIG. 10. Activation of this widget by the user causes the userinterface to merge the hypermeeting timelines and generate the mergedtimeline 1001 illustrated in FIG. 10. Furthermore, in one or moreembodiments, double-clicking on the hypermeeting timeline togglesbetween a merged and non-merged timeline from the other two views.

Recording History of Transitions Between Playback Plans and Navigationwithin History

Because of the difficulty in distinguishing content within meetings,wherein the video consists of talking heads and the topics are oftencoarsely defined, it would be desirable for the users to navigate withinthe hypervideo in an exploratory way, creating new playback plans andthen backing out of that navigation. To support this behavior, oneembodiment of the graphical user interface for hypermeeting playbackrecords a history of these user navigations and incorporates a “back”button as is found in most hypertext browsers. FIG. 13 illustrates anexemplary embodiment 1300 of such graphical user interface incorporatinga tooltip (popup) 1301 for back button 1302 showing time, speaker, andtopic. Using the exemplary embodiment 1300 of the graphical userinterface shown in FIG. 13, users simply press the back button 1302 toundo their most recent navigational action. To undo their priornavigation they press the back button 1302 again. In other words, theback button 1302 may be pressed several times to reach the appropriateplace in the user's hypermeeting navigational history.

In one or more embodiments, to provide the user with information aboutwhere the user will return to when pressing the back button 1302, atooltip visualizes the state of the hypermeeting playback at that point.In various embodiments, there can be several classes of visualizations.The first exemplary class of visualizations uses metadata and presentstextual information potentially including the date of the meeting, thetime offset into the meeting, and the topic and who was speaking at thattime, see popup 1301 in FIG. 13. In FIG. 13, the tooltip 1301 shows theposition in the meeting before the animated link traversal 1201 depictedin FIG. 12. A second exemplary visualization involves creating athumbnail of the timeline (or merged timeline) at that point andincludes an indicator of the position in that timeline that the userwill return to. A third exemplary visualization combines the abovemetadata-based and graphics based views.

In one or more embodiments, as with web browsers, users can directlyreturn back to positions more than one navigational action prior througha visualization of the navigation stack. In one embodiment, thisvisualization is composed of a list 1400 of the above visualizationsthat the user can select among, see FIG. 14, wherein each item on thelist is color-coded with a color corresponding to the color of therespective timeline segment. To make use of users' experience with Webbrowsers, this visualization can be accessed either by going to ahistory view or by right clicking on the back button 1302.

Exemplary Computer Platform

FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a computerized system1500 for automatic playback of hypervideo, such as hypervideo associatedwith a series of asynchronous meetings, as well as visualizinghypervideo playback plans. In one or more embodiments, the computerizedsystem 1500 may be implemented within the form factor of a desktopcomputer well known to persons of skill in the art. In an alternativeembodiment, the computerized system 1500 may be implemented based on alaptop or a notebook computer or any other mobile computing device, suchas a smartphone or a tablet computer.

The computerized system 1500 may include a data bus 1504 or otherinterconnect or communication mechanism for communicating informationacross and among various hardware components of the computerized system1500, and a central processing unit (CPU or simply processor) 1501electrically coupled with the data bus 1504 for processing informationand performing other computational and control tasks. Computerizedsystem 1500 also includes a memory 1512, such as a random access memory(RAM) or other dynamic storage device, coupled to the data bus 1504 forstoring various information as well as instructions to be executed bythe processor 1501. The memory 1512 may also include persistent storagedevices, such as a magnetic disk, optical disk, solid-state flash memorydevice or other non-volatile solid-state storage devices.

In one or more embodiments, the memory 1512 may also be used for storingtemporary variables or other intermediate information during executionof instructions by the processor 1501. Optionally, computerized system1500 may further include a read only memory (ROM or EPROM) 1502 or otherstatic storage device coupled to the data bus 1504 for storing staticinformation and instructions for the processor 1501, such as firmwarenecessary for the operation of the computerized system 1500, basicinput-output system (BIOS), as well as various configuration parametersof the computerized system 1500.

In one or more embodiments, the computerized system 1500 may incorporatea display device 1511, which may be also electrically coupled to thedata bus 1504, for displaying various information to a user of thecomputerized system 1500, such as the user interfaces showinghypermeeting parts and playing the hypervideo as described herein. In analternative embodiment, the display device 1511 may be associated with agraphics controller and/or graphics processor (not shown). The displaydevice 1511 may be implemented as a liquid crystal display (LCD),manufactured, for example, using a thin-film transistor (TFT) technologyor an organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology, both of which arewell known to persons of ordinary skill in the art. In variousembodiments, the display device 1511 may be incorporated into the samegeneral enclosure with the remaining components of the computerizedsystem 1500. In an alternative embodiment, the display device 1511 maybe positioned outside of such enclosure, such as on the surface of atable or a desk. In one or more embodiments, the computerized system1500 may further incorporate an audio capture device 1503, such as amicrophone, configured to capture the audio component(s) of a meetingand store the recorded audio information in the memory 1512.

In one or more embodiments, the computerized system 1500 may furtherincorporate an audio playback device 1525 electrically connected to thedata bus 1504 and configured to play various audio files, such as MPEG-3files, or audio tracks of various video files, such as MPEG-4 files,which may be the audio components of the recorded meetings, as it iswell known to persons of ordinary skill in the art. To this end, thecomputerized system 1500 may also incorporate waive or sound processoror a similar device (not shown).

In one or more embodiments, the computerized system 1500 may incorporateone or more input devices, such as a mouse/pointing device 1510, such asa mouse, a trackball, a touchpad, or cursor direction keys forcommunicating direction information and command selections to theprocessor 1501 and for controlling cursor movement on the display 1511.This input device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, afirst axis (e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y), that allows the deviceto specify positions in a plane.

The computerized system 1500 may further incorporate a camera 1526 foracquiring still images and video of various objects, including the videoof the meetings described herein, as well as a keyboard 1506, which allmay be coupled to the data bus 1504 for communicating information,including, without limitation, images and video, as well as usercommands (including gestures) to the processor 1501.

In one or more embodiments, the computerized system 1500 mayadditionally include a communication interface, such as a networkinterface 1505 coupled to the data bus 1504. The network interface 1505may be configured to establish a connection between the computerizedsystem 1500 and the Internet 1524 using at least one of a WIFI interface1507, a cellular network (GSM or CDMA) adaptor 1508 and/or local areanetwork (LAN) adaptor 1509. The network interface 1505 may be configuredto enable a two-way data communication between the computerized system1500 and the Internet 1524. The WIFI adaptor 1507 may operate incompliance with 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g and/or 802.11n protocols aswell as Bluetooth protocol well known to persons of ordinary skill inthe art. The LAN adaptor 1509 of the computerized system 1500 may beimplemented, for example, using an integrated services digital network(ISDN) card or a modem to provide a data communication connection to acorresponding type of telephone line, which is interfaced with theInternet 1524 using Internet service provider's hardware (not shown). Asanother example, the LAN adaptor 1509 may be a local area networkinterface card (LAN NIC) to provide a data communication connection to acompatible LAN and the Internet 1524. In an exemplary implementation,the WIFI adaptor 1507, the cellular network (GSM or CDMA) adaptor 1508and/or the LAN adaptor 1509 send and receive electrical orelectromagnetic signals that carry digital data streams representingvarious types of information.

In one or more embodiments, the Internet 1524 typically provides datacommunication through one or more sub-networks to other networkresources. Thus, the computerized system 1500 is capable of accessing avariety of network resources located anywhere on the Internet 1524, suchas remote media servers, web servers, other content servers as well asother network data storage resources. In one or more embodiments, thecomputerized system 1500 is configured to send and receive messages,media and other data, including application program code, through avariety of network(s) including the Internet 1524 by means of thenetwork interface 1505. In the Internet example, when the computerizedsystem 1500 acts as a network client, it may request code or data for anapplication program executing on the computerized system 1500.Similarly, it may send various data or computer code to other networkresources.

In one or more embodiments, the functionality described herein isimplemented by computerized system 1500 in response to processor 1501executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained inthe memory 1512. Such instructions may be read into the memory 1512 fromanother computer-readable medium. Execution of the sequences ofinstructions contained in the memory 1512 causes the processor 1501 toperform the various process steps described herein. In alternativeembodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or incombination with software instructions to implement the embodiments ofthe invention. Thus, the described embodiments of the invention are notlimited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and/orsoftware.

The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein refers to any mediumthat participates in providing instructions to the processor 1501 forexecution. The computer-readable medium is just one example of amachine-readable medium, which may carry instructions for implementingany of the methods and/or techniques described herein. Such a medium maytake many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media andvolatile media.

Common forms of non-transitory computer-readable media include, forexample, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, orany other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium,punchcards, papertape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes,a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, a flash drive, a memory card,any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which acomputer can read. Various forms of computer readable media may beinvolved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructionsto the processor 1501 for execution. For example, the instructions mayinitially be carried on a magnetic disk from a remote computer.Alternatively, a remote computer can load the instructions into itsdynamic memory and send the instructions over the Internet 1524.Specifically, the computer instructions may be downloaded into thememory 1512 of the computerized system 1500 from the foresaid remotecomputer via the Internet 1524 using a variety of network datacommunication protocols well known in the art.

In one or more embodiments, the memory 1512 of the computerized system1500 may store any of the following software programs, applications ormodules:

1. Operating system (OS) 1513 for implementing basic system services andmanaging various hardware components of the computerized system 1500.Exemplary embodiments of the operating system 1513 are well known topersons of skill in the art, and may include any now known or laterdeveloped mobile operating systems.

2. Applications 1514 may include, for example, a set of softwareapplications executed by the processor 1501 of the computerized system1500, which cause the computerized system 1500 to perform certainpredetermined functions, such as display the graphical user interface(s)on the display device 1511 or record video of a meeting using the camera1526. In one or more embodiments, the applications 1514 may include aninventive application 1515 for automatic generation and playback ofhypervideo, described in detail below.

3. Data storage 1521 may store, for example, the data structures andtables 1522 for storing various information associated withhypermeetings, as illustrated, for example, in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b). Inaddition, the data storage 1521 may include media files 1523 of theactual recorded media streams corresponding to the meetings as describedherein as well as index data 1527.

In one or more embodiments, the inventive meeting application 1515 forautomatic generation and playback hypervideo incorporates a userinterface generation module 1516 configured to generate one or more userinterfaces illustrated, for example, in FIGS. 5 and 6. In addition,there may be provided a video capture module 1517 for capturing videoand audio stream(s) using the audio capture device 1503 and the camera1526. Yet additionally, there may be provided a link generation module1518 for automatically generating links between video segments parts asdescribed above and storing the generated links in the data storageportion 1522. Additionally provided may be an indexing module 1519 forindexing speaker and topic information, see steps 303 and 305 in FIG. 3.Finally, playback module 1520 may be provided to facilitate theautomatic playback of the generated hypervideo, for example inaccordance with one of the playback plans shown in Table 1.

Finally, it should be understood that processes and techniques describedherein are not inherently related to any particular apparatus and may beimplemented by any suitable combination of components. Further, varioustypes of general purpose devices may be used in accordance with theteachings described herein. It may also prove advantageous to constructspecialized apparatus to perform the method steps described herein. Thepresent invention has been described in relation to particular examples,which are intended in all respects to be illustrative rather thanrestrictive. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that manydifferent combinations of hardware, software, and firmware will besuitable for practicing the present invention. For example, thedescribed software may be implemented in a wide variety of programmingor scripting languages, such as Assembler, C/C++, Objective-C, perl,shell, PHP, Java, as well as any now known or later developedprogramming or scripting language.

Moreover, other implementations of the invention will be apparent tothose skilled in the art from consideration of the specification andpractice of the invention disclosed herein. Various aspects and/orcomponents of the described embodiments may be used singly or in anycombination in the systems and methods for automatic playback ofhypervideo by means of a playback plan and for visualizing the aforesaidplayback plans. It is intended that the specification and examples beconsidered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of theinvention being indicated by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for visualizing aplayback plan of a hypervideo, the hypervideo comprising a plurality ofvideo segments from a plurality of videos linked together using aplurality of links, the method being performed in connection with acomputerized system comprising a central processing unit, a displaydevice and a memory, the computer-implemented method comprising: a.generating the playback plan for an automated playback of thehypervideo, the automated playback comprising automatically followingthe plurality of links linking the plurality of video segments such thatat least some of the plurality of video segments are played in apredetermined sequence, wherein the plurality of links are followedbased on the playback plan; and b. generating a graphical user interfaceportion on the display device for visualizing the playback plan.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the graphical userinterface portion comprises a timeline for one of the plurality ofvideos.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein thegraphical user interface portion comprises a video selection portion forselecting one of the plurality of videos.
 4. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 3, wherein upon selection of the one of the plurality ofvideos, the graphical user interface portion displays a timeline for theselected one of the plurality of videos.
 5. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 3, wherein each of the plurality of videos in the videoselection portion is color-coded.
 6. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein the graphical user interface portion comprises a mergedtimeline for at least two of the plurality of videos.
 7. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the merged timelinecomprises a plurality of color-coded timeline portions corresponding toeach of the least two of the plurality of videos.
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the graphical userinterface portion comprises a merge timeline widget and wherein uponactivation of the merge timeline widget by a user, the graphical userinterface portion displays the merged timeline for at least two of theplurality of videos.
 9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein the graphical user interface portion comprises a playbackcontrol portion comprising a play button.
 10. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface portioncomprises timelines for each of the plurality of videos.
 11. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein each of the timelinesis color-coded.
 12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, whereineach of the plurality of video segments included in the playback plan ismarked on the timeline for the corresponding one of the plurality ofvideos.
 13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein each ofthe plurality of video segments included in the playback plan is markedon the timeline for the corresponding one of the plurality of videoswith a different color or a different shade.
 14. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the graphical userinterface portion comprises a playback control portion and wherein theplayback control portion indicates an active timeline corresponding to avideo from the plurality of videos being currently played.
 15. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the graphical userinterface portion comprises a playback indicator for visualizing atraversal of one of the plurality of links included in the playbackplan.
 16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein theplayback indicator is animated and moves between two timelinescorresponding to the videos linked by the one of the plurality of links.17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the graphicaluser interface portion comprises a back widget and wherein uponactivation of the back widget by a user, the graphical user interfaceportion reverts to a previous playback state.
 18. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the graphical userinterface portion comprises a tooltip portion comprising information onthe previous playback state.
 19. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 18, wherein the information on the previous playback statecomprises date, time and topic of a corresponding meeting.
 20. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining ahistory of hypervideo navigation states.
 21. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface portioncomprises a timeline and wherein each of the plurality of video segmentsincluded in the playback plan is marked on the timeline.
 22. Acomputerized system for visualizing a playback plan of a hypervideo, thehypervideo comprising a plurality of video segments from a plurality ofvideos linked together using a plurality of links, the computerizedsystem comprising a central processing unit, a display device and amemory storing a set of computer-executable instructions for: a.generating the playback plan for an automated playback of thehypervideo, the automated playback comprising automatically followingthe plurality of links linking the plurality of video segments such thatat least some of the plurality of video segments are played in apredetermined sequence, wherein the plurality of links are followedbased on the playback plan; and b. generating a graphical user interfaceportion on the display device for visualizing the playback plan.
 23. Anon-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a set ofcomputer-executable instructions, which, when executed in a computerizedsystem comprising a central processing unit, a display device and amemory, cause the computerized system to perform a method forvisualizing a playback plan of a hypervideo, the hypervideo comprising aplurality of video segments from a plurality of videos linked togetherusing a plurality of links, the method comprising: a. generating theplayback plan for an automated playback of the hypervideo, the automatedplayback comprising automatically following the plurality of linkslinking the plurality of video segments such that at least some of theplurality of video segments are played in a predetermined sequence,wherein the plurality of links are followed based on the playback plan;and b. generating a graphical user interface portion on the displaydevice for visualizing the playback plan.